I need whiskey barrel ideas

[solavirtus]

For an excellent gift, SWMBO bought me a used 10 gallong whiskey barrel because she'd heard me carrying on about how it would be nice to get one to age a beer in. She got it from Finger Lakes Distilling - http://fingerlakesdistilling.com/ - and she was told it previously held a wheat whiskey and a rye whiskey. It smells amazing.

So my question to HBT is, what are some recommendations for what to put in it? I've never done an oaked beer before, but I have had plenty of commercial examples that I like.

 

[mcbaumannerb]

Russian Imperial Stout would be a great beer to age in a whiskey barrel!

 

[solavirtus]

That was my first thought. I did an RIS about year ago, so I'm kind of thinking along different lines. Plus, some of the barrel-aged beers I've had that were not RIS were quite good. Any thoughts on a big robust porter or big american amber ale?

 

[mcbaumannerb]

I just had a bourbon barrel aged porter last week ... it was good but didn't taste like a porter - the barrel affected the flavor. I think the key would be to use an imperial of some variety so it doesn't get overwhelmed by the flavor imparted by the barrel.

 

[solavirtus]

Hmm... I'm thinking a big/imperial american amber or brown. I'm going to throw together a recipe and post it up here.

 

[solavirtus]

Alright, here's an imperial brown ale to age in the barrel. The base recipe is Janet's Brown, but the later hopping is changed, and the chocolate upped by 0.25 lbs / 5 gal. I still would need to scale it up fit the barrel. Comments? I would like a late hop that's somewhat spicy to play with the rye whiskey that will hopefully be in the background due to the barrel. Chinook seemed like a reasonable choice. I'm worried something too light will get lost.

Recipe: Whiskey Barrel Brown
Brewer:
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Brown Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 8.28 gal
Post Boil Volume: 7.28 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.074 SG
Estimated Color: 24.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 39.6 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 89.1 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
12.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 73.8 %
1.25 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 7.7 %
1.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 3 7.7 %
1.00 lb White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 4 6.2 %
0.75 lb Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 5 4.6 %
1.00 oz Northern Brewer (US) [8.00 %] - Boil 60. Hop 6 26.4 IBUs
1.00 oz Northern Brewer (US) [8.00 %] - Boil 20. Hop 7 8.9 IBUs
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 8 4.3 IBUs
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 9 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 Yeast 10 -